switching parties

If a topic cannot be discussed with goodwill and humor, it will usually not show up on Mexpatriate.

That is one reason politics is not a regular discussion point on Mexpatriate. Today will be an exception. Sorta.

Winston Churchill has the reputation of being a party-switcher -- even though he only switched twice. From Conservative to Liberal back to Conservative.

I have taken the same route in my own party-switching. On the topic of iguanas.

If you are at a taco restaurant with twenty of your closets friends, I have a sure-fire dinner topic that will make you the center of attention -- at least for three seconds. Put on your academic game face and inquire in stentorian tones: "Is the black iguana an iguana?"

I can assure you that everyone will pause and look at you -- with a look of pity. If you are lucky, at least one person out of twenty will be interested in playing your game.

We have two large lizards in Mexico that look very similar to the novice eye. One is green. One is grayish black. English speakers call one a green iguana, the other a black iguana.  When I moved to Mexico, I did the same thing -- probably picking up the labels from other northerners.

At least, that is what I called them until a friend's Mexican gardener informed my friend and me that we were wrong. He claimed the black iguana is actually better-named as a black spiny-tailed lizard.

I did not know what to make of that information when I first heard it. But I did a little bit of research and discovered there are a lot of names from the lizard: black iguana, black ctenosaur (my favorite), black spiny-tailed lizard, Mexican spiny-tailed lizard, and black iguana. But all the sources agreed, the black iguana is not a true iguana. In Mexico, the only other lizard that biologically qualifies as an iguana is the green iguana.

For various reasons, two years ago, I switched my position (because I could no longer find the sources that made the distinction. Within a month, I had switched back to the there-is-no-iguana-but-the-green-iguana position (dining out on false news; iguana go home).

This week another juvenile lizard showed up in my patio. It is an odd nursery for a reptile that is a main protein source for all sorts of birds. The weaver finches and grackles are prime assassins.

But it is as curious about human activity as I have ever seen in a young animal. It will spend minutes just staring at me while I am reading. That is a bit unsettling because it is a black iguana. And they are carnivores.

I have seen him feasting on the beetles and leaf-cutter ant queens that are unfortunate enough to land in his vicinity. I often wonder if he is sizing me up for his next meal.

Even though he is green, I know he is a black iguana because he lacks the start of a throat wattle (or dewlap) and his tail has the distinct markings of his kind.  I hope he survives. It would be interesting to see him mature.

A Mexican professor, who is an expert on crocodiles, offered me advice on whether the black iguana is an iguana. Biologically, they are quite different, even though they look similar. A scientist would never classify a black iguana as an iguana.

He went on to point out something that made his advice even more compelling. He said: "What does it really matter? When people like me show up at parties and start talking about popular misconceptions, I am immediately classified as a bore."

I started chuckling because while he was talking I was working on scenarios where I could work this interesting piece of trivia into conversation. Until I realized I was setting myself up to be that crank who harps on topics that no one really cares about.

So, even though I know it is inaccurate to call him a black iguana, let me share with you the cute photographs of a baby black iguana.

I am now going to move down to the end of the table to talk with the guys who are yelling at each other that English sparrows are not sparrows; they are weaver finches. Those are my kind of guys.